F.No.12-29/2008-B.I 15th April 2011
Subject: Workshop on identification of the landscapes under Mission for Green India
Reference: This Office letter no. 12-29/2008-B.I dated 8th April 2011
Dear Sir/Madam
The Green India Mission (GIM) has recently been approved by the Prime Minister’s Council on the Climate Change and Year 2011-12 is the preparatory year for the Mission, which will be coterminous with 12th and 13th five year plans. A series of activities and outputs, which were outlined in the Brainstorming Session on 26th March at New Delhi, have been lined up for the preparatory year. It may also be seen on our website- www.naeb.nic.in under head “What is New”. It is requested that you may browse this website for updates on GIM till new website of the Green India Mission is launched.
As detailed out in the Mission document, the proposed interventions under the Mission will predominantly be taken up in the identified landscapes. The landscape identification, therefore, becomes a key task. The Mission document lists a range of criteria that may be used to delineate the landscapes, including projected vulnerability to climatic change, corridors, critical biodiversity habitats and ecosystems; important groundwater/ spring recharge catchments, and potential of areas for enhancing carbon sinks etc. Rural poverty and scheduled areas may be taken as additional criteria while prioritizing the areas under the Mission.
In the backdrop of above outlined details, a workshop/consultative meeting is proposed to be organised on 28th and 29th April 2011 at SCOPE Complex, Near CGO Complex, New Delhi with the following objectives.
1. To share learning from the on-going work on impact of climate change on forests and communities, and the projected vulnerability of India’s forests and forest dependent communities to climate change .
2. To share learning on identification of landscapes and landscape approaches to help delineation of landscapes for priority intervention under the Mission for Green India.
Your expertise will go a long way in meeting the workshop objectives. You are kindly requested to join the workshop deliberations or send an appropriate expert, who could participate / contribute in the workshop. Workshop agenda is enclosed for your perusal (also available at website www.naeb.nic.in under head “What is New”).
Regards,
Yours sincerely,
(Dr. Dvijendra Kumar Sharma)
Deputy Inspector General of Forests, NAEB
To,
PCCFs / Experts as per the Invitee List
Workshop on Identification of
the Ecosystems / Landscapes for Interventions under Green India Mission
Date: 28th and 29th March 2011 Venue: SCOPE Complex
The National Mission for a Green India (GIM in short) is one of the eight Missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). The Mission has been approved by the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change and an amount of Rs.200 crores have been allocated in the budget for the year 2011-12. In this connection, a brainstorming session on the Green India Mission was conducted on 26th March, 2011 at New Delhi under the Chairmanship of the Director General of Forests and Special Secretary to discuss the action plan for the implementation of the Green India Mission, which was attended by Civil Society organizations, academicians, field functionaries, JFM Committee members and other stakeholders besides PCCFs from the states. An Advisory Council/ Committee under the chairmanship of the Union Minister for Environment and Forests has also been approved and will be in place soon.
The Green India Mission (GIM) has been conceived as a multi-stakeholder, multi- sectoral and multi- departmental mission. GIM recognizes that climate change phenomena will seriously affect and alter the distribution, type and quality of natural resources of the country and the associated livelihoods of the people. GIM puts the “greening” in the context of climate change adaptation and mitigation, meant to enhance ecosystem services like carbon sequestration and storage (in forests and other ecosystems), hydrological services and biodiversity; along with provisioning services like fuel, fodder, small timber and NTFPs. It aims at increased forest / tree cover on 5 m ha forest / non-forest lands, improved quality of forest cover on another 5 m ha forest/ non- forest land, improved ecosystem services, increased forest based livelihood income of about 3 million households and enhanced annual CO2 sequestration. The draft Mission document and other details are available at website: www.naeb.nic.in under head “What is New”.
The Green India Mission envisages five Sub Missions-
Sub Mission 1: Enhancing quality of forest cover and improving ecosystem services (4.9 m ha): It covers moderately dense forest cover but showing degradation (1.5 m ha), eco-restoration of degraded open forests (3m ha) and restoration of Grasslands (0.4 m ha).
Sub Mission 2: Ecosystem restoration and increase in forest cover (1.8 m ha): It includes rehabilitation of Shifting cultivation areas (0.6 m ha); and restoring scrublands (0.8 m ha), Seabuckthorn (0.1 m ha), mangroves (0.10 m ha) and abandoned mining areas (0.10 m ha); and ravine reclamation (0.10 m ha).
Sub Mission 3: Enhancing tree cover in Urban and Peri-urban areas including institutional lands (0.20 m ha).
Sub Mission 4: Agro-forestry and Social forestry (increasing biomass and creating carbon sink) (3 m ha).
Sub Mission 5: Restoration of Wetlands (0.10 m ha).
The identification of these eco-systems and landscapes, which will include a mosaic of forest / non-forest areas representing diversity in forest density, tenure and ownership, would be the primary task in implementing the Green India Mission. It is a challenging job and requires co-operation from all sections of society besides state forest departments. This would require criteria for selection of project areas/ landscapes/ ecosystems under the Mission and preparation of the project plan. The basic approach would be to address the causes and drivers of ecological degradation including livelihood concerns. Few suggested criteria / approaches, which could be explored, are-
· Vulnerability mapping of forest areas based on climate change vulnerability.
· Other criteria may include wildlife corridors, critical biodiversity habitats, ground water recharge ecosystems, enhanced carbon sink areas, forest dependence and drivers of degradation.
· Areas identified in the working plans for special attention in the specified Working Circles like rehabilitation of forests and protection working circles.
· Areas requiring intervention for the local livelihood needs like fodder from rangeland, firewood, NTFPs etc.
· The areas identified based on the State of Forests Report published by Forest Survey of India.
· Newer areas identified to deal with the natural disasters like Tsunami (e.g. development of Coastal shelter belts, Mangroves near Nuclear Power stations)
· Rural poverty and scheduled areas may be taken as additional criteria while prioritizing the areas under the Mission.
The grants made available for the Mission is sufficient to take care of requirements of consultant team, brainstorming and experience sharing workshops, preparation of Planning Manual and Operation Guidelines, preparation of State level bridging plan for 2011-12 and five / ten years state perspective plans besides field interventions for the year 2011-12.
Tentative List of Invitees:
PCCFs of the States and Nodal Officers for GIM, Field Forest Officials
Restoration of Grasslands- CAZRI, Bareilly, Central Grassland Research Institute, Jhansi, AFRI, Jodhpur
JFM Issues/ People’s participation- IBRAD Kolkatta, GEER Foundation, BAIF, Pune, Lok Vaniki, Bhopal, Ms. Surya Kumari, Centre for People’s Forestry Hyderabad, Swaminathan Foundation, IIFM Bhopal, VIKSAT Ahmedabad, Prof Amita Bavaskar Delhi University
Ecosystem Mapping-Prof NH Ravindranath IISc, FSI Dehradun, ATREE, WWF-India (Diwakar Sharma), IIRS Dehradun, TERI (Dr Arnab)
Landscape Ecology- Prof CR Babu Delhi University, Prof. BK Tiwari NEHU, Prof. Raghuvansh, BHU, French Institute Pondicherry, Sudipto Chatterjee SLEM Project WTI, Chetan Agrawal WINROCK
Eco-restoration- Rajinder Singh Tarun Bharat Sangh, Central Soil & Water Conservation Research and Training Institute, Dehradun, Centre for Research in Dryland Agriculture, NRAA, KFRI, DRDO, ETF
Wetlands / Mangroves- BNHS, French Institute, Puducherry
Wildlife Corridors- WII, Dehradun, WWF-India
Environmental Education & Awareness- Environmental Support Group, CEE Ahmedabad, Ms. Sunita Narain CSE, Lawrence Surendra Mysore University
Restoration of Abandoned Mines- FEMA, CMPDI, CAMPA, CEC, FRI
MoEF Officials
Tentative Schedule
28/04/11 / 29/04/11Time / Program / Time / Program
9:30 -10:00 / Registration & Welcome Tea / 9:30 -10:00 / Technical session–II contd.
Restoration of Abandoned Mining Areas by CMPDI, FRI, FEMA, CAMPA followed by Discussion
10:00-10:30 / Introductory Session
Welcome Address
Introductory Remarks by DGF & SS,
Address by Hon’ble Minister for Environment & Forests
Presentation on GIM by Sh. BMS Rathore, JS / 10:00-10:30 / Enhancing Tree cover in Urban & Peri- urban Areas by Manoj Dabas,
Subhash Chandra
State Presentations
Discussion
10:30 – 11:30 / Technical Session - I
Vulnerability Mapping and Selection of Landscapes by Prof NH Ravindranath, IISc
(Descriptions of the model, assumptions, quality of Input data, Reliability of Model output, Relevance and applicability in Forest Management scenario)
ATREE followed by Discussion / 10:30– 11:30 / Agro-forestry and Social Forestry for increasing biomass
BAIF, State presentation
11:00-11:30
Soil & Water Conservation Issues in Ecosystem Restoration
Sh. Rajendar Singh TBS, NRAA
State presentations
11:30- 11:45 / Tea Break / 11:30- 11:45 / Tea Break
11:45 – 12:30 / Identification of Landscapes by FSI Dehradun
Discussion / 11:45 – 12:30 / Technical session- III
Reform agenda for Operationalizing the Mission activities- Mission Organization
Ms. Suryakumari, State Presentations
12:30 – 13:15 / Eco- restoration of Landscapes by Prof C R Babu, Delhi University
Discussion / 12:30 – 13:15 / People’s participation in Forest Management
BAIF, Lok Vaniki, VIKSAT, IBRAD Kolkatta, Popat Rao Pawar Sarpanch
State Presentations
13:15- 14:15 / Lunch Break / 13:15- 14:15 / Concluding Session- The Way Forward
14:15 – 15:00 / Technical Session - II
Restoration of Grasslands
CAZRI, AFRI, Central Grassland Research Institute, Prof. Raghuvanshi BHU
Discussion / 14:15 – 15:00 / Lunch
15:00-15:30 / Rehabilitation of Shifting Cultivation Areas
Prof. BK Tiwari, NEHU, State Presentations
15:30- 15:45 / Tea Break
15:45- 16:30 / Restoration of Mangroves and Wetlands
French Institute, Puducherry
BNHS, Swaminathan Foundation,
State Presentations followed by Discussion
16:30- 17:15 / Corridors and Critical Biodiversity Habitats as Criteria for Selection of Landscapes
WII, Dehradun, NTCA, State Presentations